Leeds
United conceded five goals for the first time in a hundred European ties as
their chances of making further progress in their UEFA Cup campaign virtually
disappeared. A 3-5 defeat by a talented and well-organised
PSV side left Howard Wilkinsonís men reeling and needing to win by three clear
goals in the second leg in Holland. Against the Dutch side that were
second only to the crack Ajax side in their country it seems a
forlorn hope and one which, on the nightís performance, would be in the miracle
category.

It was unitedís one hundredth competitive game in Europe but it
turned into a night to forget when defensive inadequacies were again in
evidence in Unitedís display. The defeat in the first
leg was all the harder to accept because Wilkinsonís men had pulled themselves
back from a 1-3 score-line at half-time to draw level by the seventy-second
minute, but all the hard work went to waste in a disastrous last seven minutes
when Luc Nilis, probably the best player on the
night, stole the show by scoring twice.

It could
have ended up 7-6. Tony Yeboah missed two chances
that he would normally have put away, one from three yards and the other from
eight yards, then Brian Deane could have scored and there looked to be a
penalty when Noel Whelan was brought down.

It had all
started so well for United, when Gary Speed, won a firm challenge in the PSV
area to give his side a flying start with a sixth minute strike from a Gary
McAllister free-kick as he glanced a fine header past Ronald Waterreus in the PSV goal. The lead lasted barely four
minutes before Rene Eikelkamp, playing instead of the
injured Brazilian star Ronaldo, scored with an easy
close range chance after the impressive Luc Nilis had
brushed aside John Pemberton and a Tony Dorigo tackle
was deflected into his path.

United lost
influential midfielder and goal-scorer, Gary Speed, who was forced off in the
twenty-sixth minute and the young Andy Couzens
substituted. PSV had what luck there was going, and a large slice of it came in
the thirty-fifth minute, when WimJonkís
shot was deflected past the helpless John Lukic by MarcianoVink. Just four minutes
later Jonk hammered in a superb volley after Luc Nilis had flicked the ball up with his toe from a free-kick
and there seemed no way back for United as they still questioned the validity
of the awarding of the free-kick.

Two goals
behind United had little option but to go on all out attack and Brian Deane and
Tony Yeboah both missed easy chances as United
mounted a spirited response. However it was Tony Yeboah
who sparked the United revival in the forty-eighth
minute when he took possession from a throw in, twisted sharply in the penalty
box and laid on a perfect cross for Carlton Palmer, who had time to steady
himself before blasting the ball in from fifteen yards. Gary McAllister got the
equalizer in the seventy-second minute with a delightfully curled shot after
the Dutch keeper, Ronald Waterreus had punched a Gary
Kelly cross straight to the United skipper.

With
eighteen minutes to go the game was evenly poised but, unfortunately for
United, Luc Nilis showed his class with two brilliantly
executed goals to give PSV a two goal advantage to take into the second leg at Eindhoven. With seven minutes still left on
the clock he gave Lukic no chance when, after he had
been allowed to run round the United defence to meet Jonkís free-kick, again hotly disputed by Leeds, he
volleyed a superb left foot shot into the net. With just three minutes left the
Belgian got his second and PSVís fifth as he
exchanged passes with Dutch under twenty-one international Cocu
and left John Pemberton in his wake before calmly side-stepping Lukic and knocking the ball into the unguarded net.

Match Action:

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Luc Nilis scores at Elland Road

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David Wetherall
follows up as Gary Speed scores††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††
†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††and
celebrates